LA Expo Line ridership beating projections

The first phase of Los Angeles' Expo Line, which opened in April 2012, has matched ridership projections of 27,000 daily riders forecast for 2020.

The website of Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, in an entry Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, noted December weekday ridership on the line averaged 27,360. Local media reported on one entry on the website from an Expo Line rider who noted, "[Morning and afternoon rush hour] are the only times I have someone sitting next to me."

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LCAMTA) currently is overseeing Phase 2 construction work on the Expo Line, designed to extend the line's western terminus from Culver City, Calif., to Santa Monica in 2015. LACMTA expects 64,000 weekday riders on the full line by 2030.

Last November the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority announced that Phase 2 was more than 50% completed. Work has proceeded despite efforts to halt the project from anti-rail citizens groups.

Earlier this week LACMTA marked the beginning of construction of yet another LRT project, the 8.5-mile Crenshaw Line.